Helpful Score: 2
Reviewed by Abby - The Class for TeensReadToo.com
The book THE HOST is a lot like Stephenie Meyer's TWILIGHT saga in the fact that the whole point of the story is that love is the most important thing. What's different though is (obviously) the storyline. Yes, that is right - this story has nothing to do with vampires; instead, aliens have taken over our planet.
The time is somewhere in the future and our world is not as we know it. Instead of mass murders making headline news, there are articles on the best type of flowers to plant. The most disturbing article is that the bridge near Maple Avenue is due for a repainting. The world is full of peace and love. No one argues, no one fights, and there is not even a hint of violence in this bizarre world.
Obviously, these are not humans we are talking about.
The aliens that came to Earth would capture a human to use its body as a host. (Hence the title.) They stretch their tentacles around the nerves and "control panels" located in our heads; thus gaining complete control of the body. Unfortunately for the human, this process eliminates them. The aliens were able to gain control of almost every person this way. By continuing their host's former habits they were able to go virtually unnoticed. Luckily for humankind, there are always a few observant people that actually see things the way that they truly are
Our story is focused on Melanie and Wanda. Melanie is (or was) one of those few humans that was able to escape. Unfortunately, she was caught and because she might have information on other fugitives stuffed in her head, Wanda is put inside her. When a soul is put in a human, it has access to every memory their host might have had. Well, at least that is what is supposed to happen. Instead, Wanda reaches some "walls" within her mind. She later finds out that Melanie is still in there and kicking. She is even able to communicate with Wanda, using her (or their) thoughts.
This starts a whole new thread of events. The most important being Melanie convinces Wanda to go and look for Jared, her true love, and Jamie, her little brother. They are both labeled as "wild humans." After getting lost in the desert and nearly dying, Wanda is found by the humans and is taken to their hideout, a large cave, as a captive. She is surprised to see so many other humans still without a soul within them and even more surprised to see Jamie and Jared have made it here.
Unfortunately many, including Jared, hate Wanda for what she is and what her kind has done to their world.
At first I thought the story itself was rather lame. I mean aliens...? Come on, can't she do anything better than that? Not to mention it had an extremely slow beginning. Once they reached the caves, though, things really heated up and Ms. Myer's amazing writing skills started to really shine through. Personally, I think that if anybody else tried writing a book with this specific topic it would go down in flames, but Stephenie Meyer was able to finish it with grace and in a way that made me want her to write a sequel.
The book THE HOST is a lot like Stephenie Meyer's TWILIGHT saga in the fact that the whole point of the story is that love is the most important thing. What's different though is (obviously) the storyline. Yes, that is right - this story has nothing to do with vampires; instead, aliens have taken over our planet.
The time is somewhere in the future and our world is not as we know it. Instead of mass murders making headline news, there are articles on the best type of flowers to plant. The most disturbing article is that the bridge near Maple Avenue is due for a repainting. The world is full of peace and love. No one argues, no one fights, and there is not even a hint of violence in this bizarre world.
Obviously, these are not humans we are talking about.
The aliens that came to Earth would capture a human to use its body as a host. (Hence the title.) They stretch their tentacles around the nerves and "control panels" located in our heads; thus gaining complete control of the body. Unfortunately for the human, this process eliminates them. The aliens were able to gain control of almost every person this way. By continuing their host's former habits they were able to go virtually unnoticed. Luckily for humankind, there are always a few observant people that actually see things the way that they truly are
Our story is focused on Melanie and Wanda. Melanie is (or was) one of those few humans that was able to escape. Unfortunately, she was caught and because she might have information on other fugitives stuffed in her head, Wanda is put inside her. When a soul is put in a human, it has access to every memory their host might have had. Well, at least that is what is supposed to happen. Instead, Wanda reaches some "walls" within her mind. She later finds out that Melanie is still in there and kicking. She is even able to communicate with Wanda, using her (or their) thoughts.
This starts a whole new thread of events. The most important being Melanie convinces Wanda to go and look for Jared, her true love, and Jamie, her little brother. They are both labeled as "wild humans." After getting lost in the desert and nearly dying, Wanda is found by the humans and is taken to their hideout, a large cave, as a captive. She is surprised to see so many other humans still without a soul within them and even more surprised to see Jamie and Jared have made it here.
Unfortunately many, including Jared, hate Wanda for what she is and what her kind has done to their world.
At first I thought the story itself was rather lame. I mean aliens...? Come on, can't she do anything better than that? Not to mention it had an extremely slow beginning. Once they reached the caves, though, things really heated up and Ms. Myer's amazing writing skills started to really shine through. Personally, I think that if anybody else tried writing a book with this specific topic it would go down in flames, but Stephenie Meyer was able to finish it with grace and in a way that made me want her to write a sequel.
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